The members of Radiohead were ecstatic when their record label
told them last spring it was time to get out and start supporting
their new album.

The frustration of inactivity (having not performed steadily since
the previous fall) coupled with the pent-up anxiety of having fresh
songs from The Bends to offer fans reached a critical state.

"We were quite ready to climb the walls," said Radiohead's
soft-spoken drummer, Phil Selway, in a recent interview from his home
near Oxford, England. "We were sort of trapped in the studio, recording
and rerecording. It didn't seem like the songs could really grow on us
until we started playing
them live for people."

For the past few weeks, Selway and bandmates Thom Yorke (vocals),
Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards), Ed O'Brien (guitar) and Colin
Greenwood (bass) have been happily traversing the states as openers for
R.E.M. And fans have found Radiohead to be an enticing appetizer, with
its heady, sonic sound somewhat reminiscent of early U2, yet more
dissolute.

Admittedly, Radiohead is a little shy on recognizable hits, except
for its 1993 smash single Creep, which launched the band into the pop
world with an unsettling slacker catchphrase ("I'm a creep, I'm a
weirdo").

Fronted by Yorke, described as the hyperkinetic mouthpiece for the
band's enigmatic moodiness, Radiohead explores the delicate folds of
its pop fortunes with wariness, proclaiming to be the "antithesis of
the rock 'n' roll lifestyle."

"We're not purposefully contradictory," Yorke said recently. "It
just happens that we like to use our brains. If you consider what
you're doing at all important, you'll pay more attention to it and not
just get drunk 'round the pub until it's time to get onstage."

Clearly, Radiohead takes the recording part of its music just as
seriously. Work on The Bends, the follow-up to its hugely successful
Capitol debut (Pablo Honey), had been going on for more than two months
when the band decided to scrap everything. Members later returned in a
better frame of mind, taking less than three weeks to lay down all the
tracks.

The album has yielded two successful singles, the plaintive High And
Dry and the MTV video hit Fake Plastic Trees. The next song, Just (Do
It Yourself), is due out this month. Selway thinks the band could be
ready for its next recording.

"Hopefully, we can get into the studio to record before we shut down
from this tour," Selway said. "Playing out every night has helped
straighten the sound. We're in a strong period, I think. I'd like to
see us do something with it before it gets cold."